The V Spot

Rants, observations, and home decorating... from a woman with no time for a blog.


Kindergarten teachers are underpaid.

24 Comments

Most teachers are underpaid. I don’t know how they do it.
How do they keep a nice, soothing tone of voice?
How do they keep those kids under control without a cattle prod?
Why aren’t they in a stupor, rocking back and forth and mumbling greeneggsandhamgreeneggsandhamgreeneggsandham…?
I am The Cooking Mom every other Wednesday in Grant’s class. My first recipe from the class cookbook was B For Butter. We took a little whipping cream and had to shake it until it turned to butter.In groups of about 8, the kids rotated through 3 “stations” in the class. I was supposed to give each kid a little baby food jar with some whipping cream and have them shake it until they had butter. You know what? Baby food jars are not meant to be reused in such a fashion. The lids don’t screw back on securely. I had to tighten them so much that when the kids (finally) had a lump of butter, I couldn’t get the lids back off. I felt like a monkey… pounding the lids on the table and grunting trying to get those suckers off.

I was then to give the kids a spoon and some saltines and let them taste the butter they made.

“I don’t want a plate. Can I use my cookbook paper as a plate?”
“I don’t want the butter. Can I just have crackers?”
“Is there juice?”
“I don’t want the crackers. Can I just have butter?”
“Do you like butter?”
“Can I have more crackers?”
“He took my spoon!”
“Everyday when I get home from school, my mom makes me vacuum the whole house.”
“Can we eat the butter with the spoon?”
“What’s your favorite donkey?”
“Can I have more crackers?”
“I have a hamster.”Peppered throughout these constant comments was whining. Brandon: “Teeaaaaaaaaaaachheeerrrrr! I don’t have butter yeeeettttt! Teeeeeeee-cher! Mine’s not wooooooooorking.”

“Brandon! My name is not teacher! My name is Mrs. W. And STOP WHINING!”

While still trying to shake leaky jars, get the kids to color their cookbook page for the letter B, serve them crackers and butter and field all of these questions… Time’s Up! Switch to your next station everybody!

I had about 30 seconds to clean up the table space, pick up the kids’ papers, get the next groups’ papers ready, and dump the remaining butter from the jars and clean them for the next round. Have you ever tried to wash butter off of something with cold water? It doesn’t work very well.

At the end of my 2 hours, I was frazzled. As the kids got ready to file out to recess, the teacher cheerfully said, “Let’s all thank our volunteer moms for helping us today!”

They all shouted their thanks. One kid came out of the line and ran across the room to give me a great big hug.

It was not Grant.

It was Brandon, the kid I came down on for his incessant whining.

Go figure.

Comments

  3. and that is one of the reasons I am not a teacher! Isn’t it funny how kids can drive you crazy and act like they’re having a terrible time and then come up and hug you?

    Reply

  5. I help out in Rhiannon’s class on Mondays and I really dont know how the teachers do it! The kids are loud and whiny and interrupting and OMG I want to put my fingers in my ears sometimes!

    Reply

  6. 🙂 My little ones are too little to allow me to ‘help’ in class like that yet – Praise God!

    I like the kid who has to vacuum after school every day!

    Reply

  7. god! i would shoot myself in this scenario! or i would turn into a tyrant teacher and demand silence, full attention, and complete cooperation! i am sure that wouldn’t work!

    p.s. wonder if kindergarten teachers have a high rate of substance abuse.

    Reply

  9. To further prove I’m going out of my mind….That sounds fun!

    I had something very similar to that when I had to read a book about kites to a class & then had them make their own kites.

    I was smart enough to NOT bring glitter. haha

    Reply

  10. I had no idea you were such an amazing cook…I mean you make your own butter and everything!

    Way to be a trooper and I so agree that teachers need to be paid more (of course my husband is a coach so maybe I’m a little bias but whatever ya know?!)

    Reply

  18. God made teachers and God made ME! SO NOT A Teeeeeacher!

    I so feel your pain. I’ve been the homeroom Mom for the past 9 year, not including pre-school, and some years I did it times 2!

    Now go break open that package of Sangria mix!

    Reply

  20. oh boy….this is what we will have to look forward to in 2.5 years.

    I do NOT know how teachers do it.

    But that photo with the pile of monkeys on that car made me laugh. I imagine that is precisely what is like….

    Reply

  22. I have taught everything from early-intervention to university and everything in between except Jr. High because Jr. High scares me. This sounds pretty typical. And yes, teachers are dramatically underpaid.

    Reply

  23. Haha…too too funny. I am laughing myself sick cuz I’ve been there; done that. There is always a ‘Brandon’, isn’t there? Bless you for your service!

    Reply

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